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The Smoke Free Law: It banned smoking in restaurants, pubs and many other public places

Additionally, the proportion of 16 to 24 year olds who smoke has fallen to 17 per cent from 26 per cent in 2007 – the biggest drop of any age group.

The ban has also been met with much public approval, with Cancer Research UK finding only 12 per cent in favour of reversing the legislation and eight per cent who believe it's made no difference to them or to public spaces.

A fifth of smokers said the ban had helped them cut down the number of cigarettes they smoke, and 14 per cent of former smokers directly attributed the ban to helping them give up.

Since the ban, other measures have been introduced to reduce rates of smoking, including increased taxes, putting tobacco out of sight in shops, getting rid of cigarette vending machines and most recently, plain, standardised tobacco packaging.

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Lung cancer: It's still a huge killer in the UK

Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “We’re thrilled that 10 years on, the smoking ban has been such an enormous success.

“Cancer Research UK worked incredibly hard for many years to ensure that the law would be effective and that no one would be exposed to toxic second-hand smoke. The impact on public health is huge. It’s rewarding to know that this effort will go on to have a great impact on the health of future generations.

“As well as protecting people from the deadly effects of passive smoking, we’ve also seen big changes in public attitudes towards smoking. It’s now far less socially acceptable and we hope this means fewer young people will fall into such a potentially lethal addiction.

"But the job is far from done when we still have more than eight million smokers in Britain and tens of thousands of children taking up the deadly addiction every year. We need this government to continue focussing on tobacco and we urge it to publish the Tobacco Control Plan for England as soon as possible.”